Hand Dryers vs. Paper Towels - Which is The Greener Choice?
A woman washes her hands masterfully in the restroom. She uses just enough cold water and soap to get the job done. She reaches for the 100% recycled paper towels to dry her hands, when suddenly she is interrupted by the sound of rushing wind. In a deep zephyrous voice the electric hand dryer implores her, “Hand dryers are 80% less expensive than paper towels. I save the treeeeeeeees!” Wiping her hands on her blouse in frustration, she wonders to herself what the greener choice would have been. Are hand dryers really less of an impact on the environment, or is the hand dryer just full of hot air?
We’re all presented with this choice at some point, some of us daily. I’ll assume since you’re here, you have an interest in saving the environment and making the green choice. I’ll also assume you want the short answer instead of a long winded answer. OK, enough with the puns already. The best choice is usually the electric hand dryer. If you want to know why, you’ll need to read the article on Slate.
So who did you think the victor was going to be? I always opted for a single recycled paper towel when given the choice in the past. But now, I’ll be going for the hand dryer. Especially if it’s a recently installed hand dryer. We’re not endorsing anybody here, but if by some ironic twist of fate you’re presented with a choice between hand dryers - choose the Xlerator!
[...] a towel to work - We unfortunately don’t use recycled paper towels or hand dryers at work, so I’m going to have to take matters into my own hands, so to [...]
This is interesting, and makes sense. But have you heard of washable cloth towel rolls? I couldn’t find a link to the product, but they are really handy (and used a lot here in Finland), and according to this page, http://www.sll.fi/luontojaymparisto/kestava/mips/tietopankki/pyyhkeet, even greener than the hand dryers.
@Jarkko - To be honest, I’d never even heard of cloth towel rolls until you just mentioned them. I did some quick research on it, and it seems like a great topic for an article. Thanks for the tip! Apparently, cloth towel rolls account for only 4% of the hand drying market here in the US. I’ve personally never seen one, and I’ve been in a lot of restrooms. Throughout Europe, they’re very widely used. We’re really behind the curve here, I believe due to lobbyists and politicians.
Cloth towels … in South Africa … we stopped that years ago because there are “pigs” in society that just have no idea - they were either dirty beyond description, or torn, or stolen.
Most washrooms have moved from paper towels (you used to see heaps of barely used paper scattered all over the floor!) to hot-air dryers. It seems to be working. And of course, nothing compares to an Xlerator (sp?)!
@nimicohgr: Looking forward for that article!
@eastcoastjac: I wonder if the towel rolls we have here would suffer from that problem or not. I mean, here it works so that when you use the towel, you first roll out some clean towel from the machine, then use it. And when the next guy comes to use it, he does the same. This way the towel you are using is always clean - but it’s washable - which should be good for the environment…